Gun-toting activist causes scare in Portland, Maine

Dec. 25, 2012
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Police briefly questioned an 'open carry' activist who walking around parts of Portland, Maine, carrying an unloaded AR-15-style assault rifle with a high-capacity magazine, the type of semiautomatic weapons used in the Newtown, Conn., school massacre. In Maine, it's legal to carry an unloaded weapon in public. / Joe Raedle, Getty Images

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

An "open carry" gun activist caused a scare in Portland, Maine, on Monday after dozens of residents reported a man walking around with an assault rifle like the one used in the Newtown, Conn., school massacre.

Maine allows firearms to be carried openly in public.

Police began receiving calls about 11 a.m. and located the unidentified man carrying an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle along a popular recreation trail that loops around the city's Back Cove. The gun was fitted with a high-capacity magazine.

The man "identified himself as an open carry activist who was exercising his Second Amendment rights" under Maine law to openly carry an unloaded firearm in public, according to a police news release. Police said he was not violating any laws or ordinances.

The Portland Press Herald writes that the man "recorded his conversation with police, who made sure the man knew the law before letting him go about his business."

Officers gave the area "heavy special attention" until about 2:30 p.m., when the man left.

Between 11 a.m. and about 2:30 p.m., police received about 65 calls about a man with a gun walking around the West End and Back Cove areas.

The Press Herald says that for the past two years, open carry activists periodically have walked around with weapons and record their interactions with police. In 2010, the city council tried unsuccessfully to ban guns from public facilities.

Maine prevents cities and counties from enacting gun regulations that are stricter than state law.